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Originally Posted by jonathan lall
George1083 is absolutely right (with regard to his last comment), but only in the case of single-speed gearboxes.
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Originally Posted by George1083
A slower top speed helps to keep your motors cool and gives you a bit more pushing force in addition to helping your drivers out.
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In fact, this is
totally a matter of gearing and the amount of throttle that your driver is using. If you've designed it right (suitable ratios), and are driving it right (full throttle as much as possible, pushing things as little as possible), the motors will be operating at a "happy" speed and temperature, no matter what your actual top speed is. Gearing it down (to increase torque) will not have any
major effect on the operating temperature of the motors, unless the ratio was so unsuitable to begin with that you could hardly accelerate from a standing start--the driving conditions (mainly % throttle) are the primary concerns.
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Originally Posted by George1083
Many times, they didn't use their top speed at all!
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This is the real sin. They won't save any battery life, and their motors will be operating out of their preferred range (contributing to excess heat, both because of the slow fan, and because of the higher current drawn due to lower voltage). This is also why it's nice to plan to change ratios, just in case your drivers don't like what they've got, and are unwilling (for strategic reasons) or unable (for human reaction time reasons) to alter their slow driving styles.